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Issue Details: First known date: 2008... 2008 The Tall Man : Death and Life on Palm Island
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

In November 2004, in the small township of Palm Island in the far north of Queensland, Detective Hurley arrested Cameron Doomadgee for swearing at him. Doomadgee was drunk. A few hours later he died in a watch-house cell. According to the inquest, his liver was so badly damaged it was almost severed. (Source: Trove)

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon The Tall Man Tony Krawitz , ( dir. Tony Krawitz ) Sydney : Blackfella Films , 2011 Z1762237 2011 single work film/TV

'When Cameron Doomadgee was found dead in the Palm Island police station, his injuries were like those of someone who’d been in a fatal car crash. The police claimed he had tripped on a step. The Palm Islanders rioted and burnt down the police station. The subsequent trial of Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley – who had been decorated for his work in Aboriginal communities – made headlines day after day, shadowed by Queensland police threatening to strike.'

'The Tall Man tells the gripping story of the trial, of the complex Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, and of the Doomadgee family as they struggle to understand what happened to their brother. ' (Source: Madman.com.au)

Reading Australia

Reading Australia

This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.

Unit Suitable For

AC: Year 10 (NSW Stage 5).

Themes

faith, grief, History, humanity, oppresssion, Power, privilege, racism, revenge, violence

General Capabilities

Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Information and communication technology, Intercultural understanding, Literacy, Personal and social

Cross-curriculum Priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

Notes

  • Dedication: For Justin and Nicholas

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Camberwell, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Hamish Hamilton , 2008 .
      image of person or book cover 3781583166016568032.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 256p.
      Description: illus. (b & w), map
      ISBN: 9780241015377 (pbk.), 9780241015407 (hbk.)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Jonathan Cape ,
      2009 .
      image of person or book cover 510143831952360457.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 272p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: 29 January 2009.
      ISBN: 9780224084666
    • Camberwell, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Penguin , 2009 .
      image of person or book cover 1174557989109058535.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Alternative title: The Tall Man : Death and Life on Palm Island
      Extent: 288p.
      Description: illus., map
      Reprinted: 2014
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: 9 September 2009
      ISBN: 9780143010661 (pbk), 0143010662 (pbk)
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Scribner ,
      2009 .
      image of person or book cover 7829562518592028435.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 258p.
      ISBN: 9781416561590; 9781416561613
Alternative title: Wysoki : Śmierć Camerona Doomadgee
Language: Polish
Notes:
Translation of: Tall man : The Death of Doomadgee
    • Wołowiec,
      c
      Poland,
      c
      Eastern Europe, Europe,
      :
      Wydawn Czarne ,
      2010 .
      image of person or book cover 5972653173675898539.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 285p.
      Description: map
      ISBN: 9788375362183, 8375362182

Other Formats

  • Also e-book and large print

Works about this Work

y separately published work icon Northern Dreams : The Politics of Northern Development in Australia Lyndon Megarrity , North Melbourne : Australian Scholarly Publishing , 2018 14049080 2018 multi chapter work criticism

'Northern Australia is rediscovered by each new generation of Australian politicians. Dams, mines, large transport projects, a food bowl for Asia and many other projects are promised and sometimes delivered, but then the political momentum fades away and the focus of attention turns to other issues. What is often missing in discussion is the region’s long history of nation-building initiatives and proposals, stretching back to 1901. Without this knowledge we are likely to repeat the mistakes of the past.

'Northern Dreams brings to life the passionate arguments about Northern Australia’s national significance and analyses the political debates that have periodically drawn the public’s attention northwards. It also highlights the role that Australian politicians such as Gough Whitlam, Ben Chifley, Robert Menzies and Bob Hawke played in shaping northern development policies to suit their times. Northern Dreams is the definitive history of the politics of northern development in Australia.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Reading Three Stories of Palm Island Leigh Dale , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Etropic , vol. 16 no. 2 2017;

'After briefly introducing Palm Island and its history as a place of punishment for Indigenous people, this essay looks at how readers respond to three books about Palm: Thea Astley’s The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow (1996), Chloe Hooper’s The Tall Man (2008), and Cathy McLennan’s Saltwater (2016). Using reviews posted by contributors to Goodreads, I investigate the colocation of terms which recur in positive reviews, in search of a specific form of reading, described here as “absorption.” Against the publishing and broader cultural conventions which differentiate fiction from non-fiction, the evidence shows that readers who describe themselves as having become absorbed tend also to praise these books for their truth, regardless of genre. The essay proposes some points of reference for thinking about the reading experience, and concludes by briefly noting the limits of using of genre in marketing, reviewing, and studying books. The essay is built on an awareness of the radical imbalance in the distribution of literacy in the region these books depict.'   (Publication abstract)

Truth on Trial Lou Heinrich , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings , January no. 24 2016; (p. 141-149)
'How recent Australian true-crime books have rejected male authority in court narratives and explored 'truth' through feelings.' (141)
The 'Poem of Force' in Australia: David Malouf, Ransom and Chloe Hooper, The Tall Man Margaret Reynolds , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Ancient Greek Myth in World Fiction Since 1989 2016; (p. 195-209)
y separately published work icon Cultural Memory and Literature : Re-imagining Australia's Past Diane Molloy , Leiden : Brill , 2015 11024641 2015 multi chapter work criticism

'Cultural memory involves a community shared memories, the selection of which is based on current political and social needs. A past that is significant to a national group is re-imagined by generating new meanings that replace earlier certainties and fixed symbols or myths. This creates literary syncretisms with moments of undecidability. The analysis in this book draws on Renate Lachmann theory of intertextuality to show how novels that blur boundaries without standing in for history are prone to intervene in cultural memory. A brief overview of Aboriginal politics between the 1920s and the 1990s in relation to several novels provides historical and political background to the links between, and problems associated with, cultural memory, testimony, trauma, and Stolen Generations narratives, which are discussed in relation to Sally Morgan My Place and Doris Pilkington Rabbit-Proof Fence. There follows an analysis of novels that respond to the history of contact between Aboriginal and settler Australians, including Kate Grenville historical novels The Secret River, The Lieutenant, and Sarah Thornhill as examples of a traditional approach. David Malouf Remembering Babylon charts how language and naming defined our early national narrative that excluded Aboriginal people. Intertextuality is explored via the relation between Thea Astley The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow, Chloe Hooper The Tall Man, and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Kim Scott Benang: from the heart and That Deadman Dance and Alexis Wright Carpentaria reflect a number of Lachmann concepts, syncretism, dialogism, polyphony, Menippean satire, and the carnivalesque.' (Publication summary)

Book of the Week Andrew Rule , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 29 June 2008; (p. 24)

— Review of The Tall Man : Death and Life on Palm Island Chloe Hooper , 2008 single work prose
Doing Island Time Benjamin Law , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 28 - 29 June 2008; (p. 24)

— Review of The Tall Man : Death and Life on Palm Island Chloe Hooper , 2008 single work prose
Dark Hearts Illuminated Morag Fraser , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 5 July 2008; (p. 22)

— Review of The Tall Man : Death and Life on Palm Island Chloe Hooper , 2008 single work prose
The Great Divide Patrick Allington , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 12 July 2008; (p. 16)

— Review of The Tall Man : Death and Life on Palm Island Chloe Hooper , 2008 single work prose
Thoughtful Study of Events that Split Public Opinion Jennifer Moran , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 19-20 July 2008; (p. 30-31)

— Review of The Tall Man : Death and Life on Palm Island Chloe Hooper , 2008 single work prose
Hooper's Crossing Mark Dapin , 2008 single work biography
— Appears in: Good Weekend , 28 June 2008; (p. 30-31, 34, 36)
Lobbing Little Grenades Kathleen Noonan , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 27 - 28 September 2008; (p. 36)
Prize-Winning Account of Brutal Death Leaves Mark Jason Steger , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 19 May 2009; (p. 4)
Harrowing Tale Wins Button Title Jason Steger , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 29 August 2009; (p. 4)
Author Wins Button Prize for Story of Death in Custody Kelsey Munro , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29-30 August 2009; (p. 7)
Last amended 22 Mar 2021 16:07:17
Settings:
  • Palm Island, Ingham area, Ingham - Cairns area, Queensland,
  • Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement (1918-1975), Ingham area, Ingham - Cairns area, Queensland,
  • 2000s
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